Women's Basketball Championship Summary - Semifinals
March 15, 2008
GREEN BAY, Wis. - In the Semifinals of the Horizon League Championship, No. 2 seed Wright State rallied to defeat No. 3 seed Milwaukee (57-55), while in the second game of the evening, No. 4 seed Cleveland State downed No. 1 seed Green Bay (90-66). Wright State and Cleveland State will meet in the Championship Final on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern).
No. 2 seed Wright State 57, No. 3 seed Milwaukee 55
GREEN BAY, Wis. - Wright State trailed by as much as 10 early in the second half, but the Raiders responded with a 30-13 run and held on in the final minute for a 57-55 win over the Milwaukee Panthers in the Horizon League women's basketball semifinals in Green Bay Friday night.
WSU led 12-8 after an Erica Richardson jumper with 12:34 remaining in the first half, but Milwaukee regained the lead with eight straight points. The Raiders went back ahead 17-16 on a Shey Peddy three at the 5:45 mark, only to see the Panthers close the period with a 10-4 run, all coming from Traci Edwards, to take a 26-21 advantage into the break.
The Raiders shot 56 percent in the first compared to 47 percent for the Panthers, but Wright State committed 16 turnovers to just 12 for Milwaukee, resulting in a 14-8 UWM edge in points off of turnovers.
Richardson opened the second half with a layup, but the Panthers followed with seven unanswered points, including four more by Edwards, in building their biggest lead of the night at 33-23 with 16:37 remaining.
Milwaukee still led 38-31 until eight consecutive Wright State points, capped off by a Charne Dixon layup, gave the Raiders the lead back at 39-38 at the 7:04 mark. Two Edwards foul shots tied the game at 46 with 2:38 left, but WSU looked to be in command as four Peddy foul shots along with a Whitney Lewis three made it 53-46 with 57.5 seconds remaining.
The Panthers, though, would not go down quietly as a Lindsay Laur three-point play and two Jodie McClain free throws trimmed the deficit to 53-51 with still 29.7 seconds left. Milwaukee had a chance to tie following a turnover, but committed a turnover of its own and after Kanisha Ward missed the front end of a one-and-one, Sierra Crayton came up with the offensive rebounds and hit two foul shots at the 18.6 mark to make it 55-51.
Edwards cut the margin to one with a three-point play at the 8.2-second mark, but LaShawna Thomas hit two free throws with 6.4 seconds left to put the Raiders up 57-54.
McClain made the first of two foul shots with 1.5 seconds left and intentionally missed the second in an attempt to give the Panthers a chance to tie the game, but Lewis came up with the defensive rebound as time expired.
The win marked the first time that the Raiders have ever won in the city of Green Bay in 24 tries. WSU is 0-19 against the Phoenix in Green Bay all-time and had lost four tournament games there (1991 vs. DePaul, 1996 vs. Butler, 1997 vs. Detroit, 2003 vs. Loyola) before Friday night.
The Raiders shot 53 percent for the game compared to 42 percent for Milwaukee and also held a 26-20 rebounding advantage, resulting in a 9-4 edge in second-chance points. WSU also led in points in the paint (30-22) and points off of turnovers (31-22). Both teams shot well from the foul line as Wright State was 14 of 18, including 12 of 14 the final 20 minutes, while the Panthers were 20 of 24.
Peddy paced the Raiders with 16 points and added six rebounds and six assists, while Crayton had 12 points and eight boards off the bench, with all 12 points and five rebounds coming in the second half. Richardson also had 12 points.
Edwards led all scorers with 25 for Milwaukee (17-14), but no other Panther had more than eight.
Box Score
No. 4 seed Cleveland State 90, No. 1 seed Green Bay 66
GREEN BAY, Wis. - Robyn Hoying scored a career-high 22 points and was one of five Cleveland State players in double figures as the fourth-seeded Vikings advanced to the Horizon League Championship for the first time since 1999-00 with a 90-66 victory over top-seeded Green Bay on Friday night in the Kress Events Center.
The Vikings advance to the Horizon League Championship game and will square off with second-seeded Wright State at 12:00 p.m. CST in the Kress Events Center. The game will be televised live on ESPNU.
The Raiders defeated third-seeded Milwaukee, 57-55, in the first semifinal.
The win improves CSU to 18-13 this season with the 18 wins being the third most in school-history and the most since the 1983-84 team won 19.
Kailey Klein finished with 18 points, while Dominique Butler chipped in 14 points and eight boards. Jessica Roque added 14 points off the bench, while Brittany Korth tallied her first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The Vikings shot a season-best .596 (31-52) from the field, the second best percentage in school-history. CSU also nailed 13-of-25 (.520) from three-point, including a 6-for-8 effort by Hoying.
Lavesa Glover led the Phoenix with 17 points and Kati Harty added 15.
The Vikings got off to a quick start as Butler scored the first six points of the game to give CSU a quick 6-0. Green Bay rallied to take a 9-7 lead with 13:36 remaining in the half. From there, the game featured two lead changes and three ties, including the final time at 21-21 on a Klein three-pointer with 7:07 left.
From there, CSU closed the half on a 21-5 run, which included four three-pointers, including two from Hoying, as CSU opened up a 42-26 lead at the half.
CSU shot .615 (16-26) in the first half, including a sizzling 6-of-10 (.600) from three-point.
The Phoenix battled back at the start of the second half behind the play of Glover inside as the junior scored eight quick points to help Green Bay slice its deficit to seven points (44-37) four minutes into the half.But Klein and Hoying hit consecutive three-pointers to extend the lead back to 13 points. Green Bay would attempt to make several runs and cut the lead to 11 points five times in the second half, but the Vikings had an answer each time.
Green Bay trailed 68-57 following a three-pointer from Erin Templin with nine minutes left, but 12 straight points by the Vikings put the game out of reach as Green Bay would not get closer than 18 points the rest of the way.
CSU claimed a plus 11 (33-22) rebounding margin, while outscoring the Phoenix bench, 20-3. In addition, the Vikings outscored Green Bay in the paint, 30-24.
Box Score
